Maine men’s hockey returns home to open Hockey East play

ORONO – Halloween spirit was alive and well at the Alfond Wednesday afternoon.

Maine men’s hockey returns home for the first time in two weeks to open Hockey East play on Friday.

“it’s nice to be back at the alfond..Theres nothing like it and its great having a student section in your favor too,” said goalie Jeremy Swayman.

The team has gone two weekends in a row without a win, dropping both games against Minnesota-Duluth and coming away with only one point against UConn.

“We went down 2-0 on the power play..we came up through the third and we knew we could play with them five on five..ended up tying it up and had a good amount of chances in overtime to win the game just didn’t go our way..,” said forward Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup.

They’ve been active in practice trying to fix their on-ice discipline.

“if someone takes a penalty we kind of call them out..there’s some sort of punishment for that to crack down on it..because it’s definitely affecting our wins and losses,” said forward Rob Michel.

With the first leg of non-conference play behind them, the team turns it attention to UMass-Lowell.

“We really got to focus on taking care of the puck..earn every inch of ice..it’s going to be a battle tooth and nail in every Hockey East series..we’re excited and we expect to do well,” said Michel.

The River Hawks have only lost two games this year, one of them in Hockey East play against Northeastern.

“Guys are really excited to get back out here to show not only the fans, but ourselves that we can play and we’re ready to go,” said Schmidt-Svejstrup.